


such great heights

by rocket_rach



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics)
Genre: Blood, Dick and Dami Week 2019, Fear gas, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, graphic depictions of falling, hurt with like. a pinch of comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:09:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocket_rach/pseuds/rocket_rach
Summary: for day three of dick and dami week - Fear gasIt's not the falling you should be afraid of, it's the stopping bit.





	such great heights

Deep beneath the sprawling grounds of Wayne Manor, Dick Grayson was hiding. There was blood, so much blood and so many bodies falling time after time from the trapezes above. First, it was his parents. John and Mary clasped hands, all smiles. The wires snapped, the thwack and the pop of wires breaking echoed down from the ceiling of the cave. At first, he was frozen, like all those years ago, watching as their bodies snapped and twisted against the unforgiving ground. Then it was Bruce. Bruce’s leapt from the bar, but too soon. He fired his grapple gun. It misfired, and his father’s neck broke. There was more blood now. No longer a puddle. Jason leapt. An explosion forced him into the ground below. Barbara leapt. Tim leapt. Cass leapt. Duke. Stephanie.

A lake of blood was growing as Damian took the ladder to the trapeze.

Red tendrils snaked their way to Dick’s booted feet. He couldn’t save them as Nightwing. He failed everybody as Dick. His boots were glued down by the blood of his family, forcing him to witness as his little brother climbed higher and higher. Dick screamed. He begged Damian to come back down. But Damian’s face was twisted. His dark eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, his mouth pressed into a thin line of determination. The higher Damian went, the harder it was for Dick to see him.

“P-please Damian. Please c-come back down. I can’t l-lose you, no-not again,” Dick begged him. 

He struggled against the blood that had glued him in place. Muscles tensed and strained, fighting viciously to save his little brother. He needed to climb that ladder. He’d failed everyone else and he’d die first before he failed Damian, again. Dick bellowed, the coagulated blood snapping under the force he was exerting. The former Robin sprinted forward. He had to get to Damian. He had to save him.

But a red demon grabbed him before he could reach the youngest Robin.

It snarled; teeth gnashing through foam. Each spiked tooth told a story of destroying anyone who attempted to stop what was happening. It told a story of taking Damian’s life, either through falling or through devouring. Dick contorted his way free, boots landing on the ground. He took off, racing through the winding tunnels in the cave. There was another way to the top of that platform, and he had spent his childhood exploring the Batcave. He knew he was going to find the tunnel he needed, and he was going to save Damian. He scaled the cave wall, his hands and feet remembering where every nook and cranny was that guaranteed him the safest ascent. Then finally he reached the opening.   
Dick leapt. He grabbed Damian, pulling him into his chest. He curled around his brother, angling their fall so Dick would take the brunt of it, with his back. So long as Damian was safe, Dick would do anything.

He hit the ground with a thunderous crack.

 

 

“—jumped, I can’t believe he did that!” Someone cried.

“He’s never reacted like that to fear toxin. Not ever. This has to be a new formulation—”

“Thank god his back isn’t broken—”

“Grayson, I will never forgive you if you die—”

“—unconscious. Goliath found him in one of the side caves—”

“Blood pressure is stabilizing, as is his heartbeat—”

“Hnngh,” Dick groaned.

“Quiet,” Bruce spoke over the chattering.

“…Grayson?” Damian whispered.

“Don’t speak, Master Dick,” Alfred cut in.

“Is everyone- ah, shit, o-o-kay?” He asked, ignoring how his body was screaming and burning with pain.

“Everyone is fine, Dick. You took the worst of it. Just lay still. The rest of you,” Dick saw Bruce turn to the other vigilantes crowded around him. “ _Get out of costume and go to bed. Now_.”

A few of them grumbled but left. Dick turned his head, seeing his youngest brother still in costume, sans mask. He had tears in his eyes, angry tears. But the flush in his cheeks showed how deeply afraid he had been.

“Okay?” Dick wheezed, his bloodshot eyes tracking Damian’s every movement.

“I’m fine,” he responded, just a bit too quickly. “You’re the idiot who jumped from 40-foot ledge holding Titus. He’s fine. He helped Goliath find you after that.”

“Hnngh, good.”

Bruce watched as Damian gently took Dick’s hand. He briefly wondered if Dick had ever done that with him when he’d been hurt with the worst of the toxin. The billionaire turned to his butler, who’s relieved face told him that he had. Bruce stepped forward and placed his hand on his son’s shoulders.

“Keep an eye out for him, Damian.”

“Tt, of course I will,” Damian said.

Bruce and Alfred went to leave the cave. He wondered what Dick could have seen that would drive him to leap like that. Bruce turned, his eyes landing on Damian whispering to his eldest. Whatever it was, Bruce decided, he’d do everything in his power to protect both Dick and Damian from it. They would, in turn, work as hard as he would, to prevent it from happening to each other.

**Author's Note:**

> i was getting too soft


End file.
